Because of federal regulations millions of pounds of cherries will go to waste this year
Read more: Local
One million pounds of locally grown cherries with no place to go...
"25% of our fruit has to be destroyed or harvested onto the ground," said local grower Denny Hoxsie.
Because of federal regulations cherry growers are only allowed to sell a certain percentage of their crop and for local grower Denny Hoxsie, that means 25--percent of his fruit will stay on the ground.
"I don't think that there's a grower that wants to shake 25% of his crop onto the ground, but we are governed by a federal market order that does regulate the supply of cherries, we understand that. "
But does the crop have to go to waste?
"Yes, we could dispense a few pounds each day to the folks that come into the pantry," said Father Fred's David Abeel.
While Hoxsie tells 7&4 News he thinks the idea of donating the cherries to organizations like the Father Fred Foundation and Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan is a good idea, he says it's not a realistic one.
" I think growers would be more than willing to donate fruit, but what they'll probably run into with tart cherries is there has to be something done with them...they have almost zero shelf life. They have to be frozen, or canned, or something done...that's a fairly expensive proposition," Hoxsie said.
One that Hoxsie says may not even be allowed.
" It's in the normal food chain and that contributes to the excess, not even sure if it's an allowable use," Hoxsie said.
" You can't drive the price of cherries so low that the farmer can't recoup any of their cost, but it is a shame we can't bridge the economic and technical advances involved," Abeel said.
And until someone does... it's on the ground where the cherries will stay.
